While we often hear the word “mitzvah” used to mean a “good deed,” it really means “commandment” and there are 613 of those in the Torah. One of the Big Ten is “keep the Sabbath,” and we do that by sanctifying the time and setting aside our normal work. We get out the fancy kiddush cup and candlesticks, set a pretty table, and serve up special foods. Would it be the Sabbath if we had frozen fish sticks on a paper plate, with wine in plastic cups? Yes, but we could do the commandment more fully by making it beautiful—hiddur...

The traditional Jewish notion of not making images comes from Exodus 20:4: "...you shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth." After all, the Israelites had, just shortly before the Ten Commandments were handed down, made themselves a golden calf to worship and couldn't be trusted not to try it again. Certainly, through the ages, Jews regularly broke this commandment. There were even coins with various rabbis' faces on them! There were also work-arounds like micrography, making pictures...